The Beast and the Dragon

One of the most common hybrid animals, a mule, is the offspring of a horse and a donkey. But no one on Earth has seen the hybrid in today’s verse.

Students of Bible prophecy, however, will quickly decipher that this beast is correlated to the beasts in Daniel 7. The prophet Daniel saw four beasts in vision, representing a chronological depiction of major world powers throughout history: The first was a lion, representing ancient Babylon (v. 4); the second was a bear, representing Medo-Persia (v. 5); and the third was a leopard, representing ancient Greece (v. 6)—the same animals that make up this sea beast of Revelation.

As for the fourth beast, Daniel had never seen anything like it (v. 7). This was the beast that also “had ten horns.” This beast represents Rome. Interestingly enough, a study of Roman history shows that the empire was basically an amalgamation of the three kingdoms that came before it: Rome adopted Babylon’s religiopolitical absolutism (Daniel 3), Medo-Persia’s legislative practices (Daniel 6), and Greece’s culture.

For example, many of the statues of Roman Catholic saints are repurposed Greek deities. So, it follows that a symbolic representation of Rome would resemble a compound of the other three nations’ symbols: a lion, a bear, and a leopard. Yes, the fourth beast of Daniel is the sea beast of Revelation—it is Rome. These four nations have something else in common. They were all pagan.

We also see that this beast isn’t working solo. The mastermind behind the beast is the dragon, which we’ve learned represents Satan (Revelation 12:9) working through pagan Rome (v. 4). The dragon’s power doesn’t stop there. It extends to Rome’s next iteration—papal Rome. Indeed, history shows that when the Roman Empire officially became Christianized around the fourth century, the pope, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, assumed all the authority of the head of the Roman state.

Take heed: Just because something looks Christian, its foundation could be of the dragon.

Lord, thank You for shining the light of truth upon the devil’s deceptions and guiding us to Your prophetic Word in plain history.

For Further Study: Job 2:1–7; Ezekiel 28:15; Ephesians 6:12

Key Bible Texts

And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. (Revelation 13:2 KJV)